Starting Up Your First Remote Business
2020 has been the year of remote work. This, of course, was relatively unexpected. Back in January, the vast majority of us were still commuting into our office jobs daily and working the routine nine to five. But the coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything. Many of us have lost our jobs and are looking for alternative work that can generate us an income.
Many of us are working from home in our usual roles. Put simply, very few of us are still working in-office right now, even months down the line from the outbreak of the pandemic.
So, there are countless reasons you might be looking into setting up your own remote business. Of course, if this is the first time you’ve set up a remote business, you may feel like you’ve been thrown into the deep end. But don’t worry too much. Here’s a step by step guide that can help you to get things up and running as best possible!
Setting Up a Workstation
Before we get started with anything else, it’s first important to make sure that you set up your own dedicated workspace if you’re planning on running a business remotely. Having a dedicated workspace will help you to separate home life and work life a little more easily, ensuring you can be productive each and every day.
It can also ensure that you are comfortable and maintain proper posture during the working day, rather than working from bed or the sofa and potentially experiencing aches, pains or chronic strain injuries as a result. These simple steps will help you to set up the best workstation possible.
Choose Your Workspace Wisely
Before you buy or rearrange anything for your workspace, it’s a good idea to decide exactly where you’re going to work. You need to put some thought into choosing your workspace in order to get the most from it. You want to make sure that you keep certain spaces in your home as personal spaces and certain spaces as professional spaces. This helps you get used to being productive in your professional space and being able to relax in your personal space.
This will also let other people who you live with to easily identify if you’re working and should be left alone, or if you are relaxing and can be interacted with. This will minimise distractions and help you to get more work done. It’s a good idea to choose a space where you can fit a desk and comfortable, supportive chair. The space should also have plenty of natural light, be well ventilated and be at a comfortable temperature that can be managed throughout the changes of the seasons.
Make Sure You Have a Strong Internet Connection
We’re all aware that certain rooms in our homes don’t get the best wifi connection from our routers. So, it’s important to resolve this issue before getting started to ensure that you can be connected with a strong connection at all times. When you operate from home, you’ll quickly grow to understand the sheer importance of a great internet connection.
Without it, you’ll really struggle to get your work done. You won’t be able to communicate with others instantly, you won’t be able to pick up orders quickly, you won’t be able to delegate tasks to your staff conveniently and you’ll face all sorts of other problems. Perhaps the best way to ensure a great connection is to browse different network providers in your area and check their speeds. Most provider’s sites will have a speed checker so you can see if the connection in your area is generally good or not.
Remember that there’s no point being loyal to a company that isn’t giving you the best possible service. If you find that your current connection doesn’t reach the room you want to work from, you may also want to look at signal boosters.
Invest in Ergonomic Furniture
People tend to focus on aesthetics when it comes to designing their home workspace. They want furniture that will fit in with the aesthetic of the rest of their home and look appealing. But sometimes, when it comes to your workspace, the best furniture for your health and wellbeing won’t always be the prettiest.
It’s best to always opt for ergonomic furniture rather than what might look nicer. After all, some furniture can look great but can leave you experiencing aches, pains and chronic strains after use day in and day out. There are plenty of different types of ergonomically designed furniture on the market and each will help you to maintain good posture and reduce strains on your body.
So, see what’s available to you and invest in the basics. This could include an ergonomic desk, chair, keyboard, mouse, back supports, foot rests and more.
Invest in Storage Solutions
You’re going to find yourself with a lot of files and paperwork when you work from home – even if you do store most of your data on the Cloud. So, make sure you have plenty of storage solutions in your workspace. This could be binders and files, storage cabinets, pen pots, sets of drawers or anything else that can help you to organise your professional belongings a little more easily.
Do Your Research
Now you’re set up and ready work, it’s time to start doing a little research on setting up your own remote business. Whether you’ve ran a business before or this is your first time, it’s always best to brush up on some of the basics. There’s plenty of business help out there.
Whether that’s professional help where you pay someone to help you, education where you can take courses on how to set your company up, or free information that can guide you in the right direction. There are plenty of opportunities, so don’t be afraid to take your time and do your research before getting started. This can help to minimise mistakes and maximise potential.
Officially Forming Your Business
When you’ve got to grip with the basics and you’re ready to set your company up, you’ll need to embark on the official process of forming your business. Things aren’t always as easy as creating a website and declaring yourself a company.
Sure, you can do this if you want to take personal responsibility for the finances of your business, but remember, if things go wrong, you could find yourself having your own home, car and other assets repossessed in order to pay for your business’ debts. If you want to make sure that your business is a separate legal entity to you and your own finances, you will need to form a limited company.
The process to achieve this goes by many names – company formation, company registration, company incorporation – but the process is almost always the same. Doing this will ensure that any of the money, property, assets responsibilities and agreements purchased by, owned by, or agreed by your company are completely separate from your own finances and your own belongings.
Finding an Accountant
Another early step that you might want to take will include finding an accountant. You’ll find that once your business starts generating profits, you’ll be completely liable to paying the right amount of tax at the end of the fiscal year. Of course, business tax can get pretty confusing pretty quickly.
There’s so much more to the process than simply figuring out your takings and paying the right bracket of tax on them. If you want to deal with your taxes wisely, there are all sorts of ins and outs that can see you save on expenses and in other areas. A qualified accountant will be able to help you with this and will ensure that you only pay the right amount of tax and other deductibles at the end of the tax year.
This may seem like a lot of information to take in, but we’re just getting started. These are just a few of the basic and preliminary steps that you’ll need to take if you are planning on setting up your own remote company.
Generally speaking, this is the best way to go about things if you’re planning on setting up a business this year. Getting tied into commercial rent agreements is undesirable when the rules and guidelines concerning who can go where change so regularly and unexpectedly. Hopefully, some of the above advice will be able to give you a little direction and can really help you along the way when it comes to creating a successful business during these trying times.
The key to success really is research and preparation, so take your time and don’t dive into anything. Patience is key!
© New To HR
